Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 12, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27227-2
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Funding
- Wellcome Trust [FC001193]
- European Research Council [CoG 647971]
- Francis Crick Institute from Cancer Research UK [FC001193]
- UK Medical Research Council [FC001193]
- BBSRC [BB/N000463/1]
- Leverhulme Trust [RPG-2019-414 194]
- BBSRC [BB/N000463/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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In areas such as animal research and agriculture a single sex is often required in abundance, leading to wasted resources and ethical considerations. Here the authors develop a CRISPR/Cas9 mediated synthetic lethal system that enables the production of single sex offspring that can be repurposed for use in multiple organisms.
Animals are essential genetic tools in scientific research and global resources in agriculture. In both arenas, a single sex is often required in surplus. The ethical and financial burden of producing and culling animals of the undesired sex is considerable. Using the mouse as a model, we develop a synthetic lethal, bicomponent CRISPR-Cas9 strategy that produces male- or female-only litters with one hundred percent efficiency. Strikingly, we observe a degree of litter size compensation relative to control matings, indicating that our system has the potential to increase the yield of the desired sex in comparison to standard breeding designs. The bicomponent system can also be repurposed to generate postnatal sex-specific phenotypes. Our approach, harnessing the technological applications of CRISPR-Cas9, may be applicable to other vertebrate species, and provides strides towards ethical improvements for laboratory research and agriculture. In areas such as animal research and agriculture a single sex is often required in abundance, leading to wasted resources and ethical considerations. Here the authors develop a CRISPR/Cas9 mediated synthetic lethal system that enables the production of single sex offspring that can be repurposed for use in multiple organisms.
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